Weird NJ takes a ride on Gravity Road

Weird NJ
12:56 p.m. EDT June 28, 2014

One of the most common “road” myths in New Jersey are the stories of Gravity Roads that all involve at least one violent death and a spirit of some kind that pulls or pushes your vehicle uphill.
(Photo:
Weird NJ/Mark Moran
)

One of the most common "road" myths in New Jersey is the story of Gravity Road, or Hill.

Weird NJ has investigated several of these locations where the forces of gravity seem to hold true in theory only. The stories told of the various mystery spots found around the state are remarkably similar, yet all possess their own unique plot twists. All involve at least one violent death and a spirit of some kind that pulls or pushes your vehicle uphill.

The preferred scientific method of testing these anomalous roads is to pull your car up to the spot in question, throw it into neutral and remove your foot from the brake. Then, ever so slowly, your car will begin to travel, as if forced by unseen hands, uphill. It really works and the sensation can be very disorienting and unsettling.

Those seeking more concrete evidence of the spectral nature of the phenomenon often will sprinkle flour or baby powder on their car's bumpers. Then, after the anti-gravity experiment, they check their bumpers for signs of ghostly hand prints in the powder.

"The state of New Jersey prohibits any vehicle from backing up on an off-ramp," the police officer said to us as we were attempting to test one such local legend located at the Ewing Avenue exit off Route 208 in the Franklin Lakes/Wyckoff area of Bergen County.

"We will ticket any vehicle trying out Gravity Road," the officer said while writing out our ticket.

The legend of Franklin Lakes' Gravity Road claims that a young woman was killed at the intersection at the bottom of the off-ramp.

When you stop at the stop sign after exiting the highway, a mysterious force pushes your car backward up the hill. This is supposedly the ghost of the woman warning you of the danger she succumbed to.

Perhaps the incline of the road is merely an optical illusion. Although it seems to be on a downward slope, maybe it really isn't. The contours of the embankments make it appear the stop sign is at the bottom of the hill, but it could be that the road actually ends on an upward pitch.

On the other hand, there could be a ghost at the intersection pushing your car backward uphill to protect you from harm.

But the officer didn't believe us when we told him we saw a ghost pushing us backward. Fine: $76 and a few points on our license.

If you'd like to test out a Gravity Hill near you and perhaps get your own traffic ticket, here are a few other locations around the area, suggested by our readers, where the laws of physics just don't seem to apply…

Gravity Hill of Monmouth County

Monmouth's Gravity Hill is located off Route 35 South near Holmdel.

"We used to go there on Friday nights with our dates," remembers local resident Reynold Beaton. "It's funny, because the girls would get excited as we would drive past IFF (International Fragrances & Frangrances), which would pretty much smell up that portion of Route 35 with an inviting sweet scent."

If you make a right turn onto Laurel Avenue off Route 35 South and drive to the end (about 2.7 miles) and put your car in neutral, you'll feel the sensation of being pulled backward up the hill. Even pedaling a bicycle is said to be easier uphill than down.

Topographically, Gravity Hill is located within a larger hill facing in the opposite direction, thus creating the illusion of defying Newton's Law.

"Since the early '70s, a lot of repaving has been done to the road," said Beaton. "Construction, too. But it's always worth the trip. The worst the local police will do is tell you to move on."

Thrill Hill, Holmdel-Middletown

There's a road on the Holmdel-Middletown boundary known as Laurel Avenue. Between Route 35 and Holland Road, Laurel Avenue boasted not one, but two legendary teenage hot spots: Thrill Hill and Gravity Hill.

The thrills came when you accelerated at the crest of the hill, causing your car to become airborne. Unfortunately, these launchings were extremely dangerous, as a low railroad overpass was directly in your flight path.

The story goes that in the early '60s, a carload of teens hit the overpass, causing their untimely deaths, and Thrill Hill was flattened shortly thereafter. Bruce Springsteen actually name checks Thrill Hill in his canon of Jersey-related songs.

Gravity Hill provided saner, but equally exhilarating kicks. The procedure was to stop the car at the bottom of a slight incline. Putting the car in neutral (with the headlights off, of course) caused the car to roll up the hill.

Explanations ranged from ghosts pushing the car away from a fatal accident scene, the aftereffects of a meteor crash or magnetic fields from deep within the earth.

Local officials dismissed these theories with their own: it was an optical illusion, it wasn't really a hill, and anyone foolish enough to try to duplicate the effect would be ticketed. The forbidden factor only increased Gravity Hill's cachet and teens continued to tempt the spirits well into the late '70s.

Sadly, Gravity Hill today is just another four-lane intersection between Route 35 and the Garden State Parkway, with the only mystery being whether a right-turn-on-red is permitted.

— Chris B., Gravity Hill Media

Death at Thrill Hill

Back when I was a teenager, around 1965, there was a hill just down the side street from the huge Lily Tulip Plant on Highway 35.

You would appear to roll right up the hill when stopped at the end by the stop sign.

Unfortunately, there was also another hill before the stop sign where you could launch your vehicle off the road surface with ease, if driving fast enough. I did it once, and would never do it again. It was very scary. A few years later several teenagers were killed there attempting to do the same thing. The road was leveled sometime after that.

— Roland M.

Cooper Road Gravity Hill, Middletown

It seems to me that Cooper Road in Middletown is one of those gravity points.

In 1987 or 1988, my friend and I discovered this while taking our first ride down Cooper Road, right where the dip stops and the road levels out it will start. You have to understand that my friend and I went down that road at least 100 times within a two-year span. We tested all kinds of cars, with all kinds of people and it worked just about every time.

You could even see the rpm gauge going up. The car was almost at 45 mph, and every single time we came near that little creek and where the road is paved, it stops. We even had certain tools with us to prove that the level part of the road was slightly going up, so we knew we weren't just gliding down a hill or an incline.

— Nick M.

Gravity Hill, Jackson

When I was 15, I was taken to a road that was not familiar to me at the time. My friends would not tell me where they were taking me. They got to a stop sign at the bottom of a hill and said, "Watch this."

The driver placed the car in neutral and let go of the brake. To my amazement, we started to roll backward up the hill!

They told me this story: At this hill, if you turn right and go about five houses down, you will see a house that was a living nightmare for a little girl. A girl and her father lived alone at this house, and rented a room to a stranger that they did not know.

One day, the girl came home from school and the stranger took her downstairs to the basement and tortured her until the father came home from work. When the father heard noises in the basement, he went down to see what it was. He was brutally murdered by the stranger.

Legend has it that when you are at this hill, the father is trying to protect his daughter from any harm, pulling you as far as he can from the house. Even though the house is now abandoned, I have heard of people driving past it and seeing a light on in the basement.

—— 9Volt

Gravity Road, Hopewell

Winding down Route 29 along the Delaware-Raritan Canal between Trenton and Lambertville, we were steered toward a very weird local attraction: The Hopewell Gravity Road in Mercer County.

Once off Route 29, you'll find Pleasant Valley Road, where the strange uplifting phenomena occurs. If you travel a mile or so on the thoroughfare, you will notice a small sign on your left indicating where to stop your car for a fun-filled ride. You can stop your car on either side of the road, and mysteriously, your vehicle will either be pulled forward or backward uphill, depending on which way you're headed.

The local legend of this Gravity Road claims that the field adjacent to the gravity spot was once the property of a farmer who, after visiting with his neighbors one evening, came home to find his house on fire and his family trapped inside.

Carrying a lantern, he came upon a group of people sitting in a carriage watching his home burn. He pleaded with them for help, then rushed to save his family. Unfortunately, he and his family perished in the blaze.

The legend states that the farmer's ghost is the force pushing or pulling your car away from the spot, still asking your help to save his family. The ghost doesn't like vehicles stopping in front of his property, where once people had stopped to gape at his burning home.

Ghost lights also are said to appear farther down the road, with the apparition signaling you with his lantern to urge passersby to help him save his long-forgotten family.

Powerless against the phenomenon

I grew up in rural Pennington hearing stories of a Gravity Hill located nearby in Hopewell. Some dismissed the phenomenon as an optical illusion. Skeptics say the road ends on a slight uphill grade, hence the rollback.

The story I remember centered on a husband and wife in an isolated farmhouse. One night, in a fit of rage, the man murdered his wife in their home and attempted to flee via automobile. It is said the murdered woman's spirit tried to pull the car back toward the home, and does the same with everyone who shifts into neutral at the bottom of Gravity Hill.

Another version of the same hill's origin claims the husband was involved in an extramarital affair. When the wife found out, she hanged herself from a tree close to the home. Now when motorists, myself and friends included, try the hill, they roll back too far and reach the tree. Then the car loses all power, including electric. Stalling could be explainable, but not the complete loss of current from the battery!

— Edmont

We were happy to see that the Gravity Hill on Pleasant Valley Road in Titusville/Hopewell has inspired a farm to name itself in its honor. We wonder if the mysterious forces of anti-gravity present along the road have any effect on the Jersey tomatoes grown there.

Please drive safely and adhere to all local traffic rules and regulations, especially the laws of gravity.

Weird NJ magazine, "Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets," can be found on newsstands throughout the state and on the web at www.WeirdNJ.com.